A lovely example of one of "Fores's Marine Sketches," this showing the steam yacht "Alexandria," which was built for Tsar of Russia in England. The yacht, shows steaming by a number of other ships and a light-boat, appears sleek and luxurious. A pair of small boats with fishermen using a net appear in the foreground. A very good example of British marine art from the middle of the nineteenth century. $1,200

"Midnight Race On The Mississippi." New York: Currier & Ives, 1875. Lithograph. Original hand color. Small folio. 9 x 13 1/4. Very good condition. C:4117. New Best 50: 9.

The most popular of the small folio Currier & Ives paddle-wheeler prints, this was voted as the #9 best small folio print in the American Historical Print Collectors Society New Best 50 vote in 1988. $1,800

Although best known for his industrial designs, Otto Kuhler (1894- 1977) is well regarded as a fine artist and draftsman. Born in Germany, Kuhler was the sole heir to his family's successful steel business, Kuhler Forges. After WWI however, the business and his family's fortune were in ruins. After living briefly in Dusseldorf, and partly due to the advice of friend Joseph Pennell, he took up etching and emigrated to the States in 1923. Otto Kuhler's etchings of begrimed industry sprang from the same optimistic response to technology that led to his colorful streamlined designs for the Milwaukee, Lehigh and other railroads in the 1930's. His prints bridge art and industry, freely-sketched scenes that celebrate precise engineering and industrial might. This merging of industry and art proved so successful that after years of submitting designs, a locomotive based on Kuhler's designs was built. The engine, Hiawatha, rolled out of the Schenectady, New York yard in May, 1935. It was the first streamlined steam locomotive to be built from scratch in America. This signaled the start of the next phase of his career- as a successful industrial designer. $850Go to page with other fine art prints of ships and boats